George Soros
Announces $15 Million Effort

Combat The
Influence of Money on Health Care

PR Newswire 15apr99

Philanthropist and financier George Soros has announced that his Open Society
Institute http://www.soros.org will spend $15
million over three years to combat the influence of money on medical care. The
funds will be funneled through a new program initiative to be called Medicine
as a Profession (MAP).

In a speech at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia
University on April 15, Soros criticized the dominance of marketplace values in
the teaching and practice of modern medicine.

"There is unanimity among doctors, deans, historians, and health
economists that money has never been so much in the forefront of medicine or
potentially so powerful in deter- mining medical decisions," said Soros.
"We have never more needed professional ethics to stand out against
marketplace forces than now."

Medicine as a Profession will make funds available to bring together medical
organizations and consumer organizations and help make them a "force for
change" in the health care field. In addition, MAP will help teach young
medical professionals how to serve and how to advocate for their patients,
particularly patients coming from underserved communities.

"Soros to Announce $15 Million to Combat Influence of Money in Medicine;
New Program to Counter Threat Posed to Professional Values and Ethics by
For-Profit, Marketplace Forces."

Medicine
as a Profession, a program of the Open Society Institute, seeks to address the
principles of professionalism that promote trust, quality, equity, efficacy, and
privacy in the delivery of health care.

The
American health care system is now undergoing radical changes which are
affecting almost every aspect of medical organization, physician practice, and
patient welfare. These altered circumstances have affected the core relationship
between patients and physicians. Consumers of medical care are increasingly
suspicious of providers, uncertain, for example, whether financial
considerations are dictating treatment decisions. Physicians themselves are
uncertain of where they fit within the larger health care system. To whom are
they ultimately responsible: to patients, employers, HMO managers, government
regulators, or managed care company shareholders? What are their obligations to
individuals seeking care, whether insured or uninsured? What are their
obligations to the community as resources become scarce and expensive? In
essence, the changes in the organization and financing of health care have
created an unstable and conflict-ridden environment. This fact serves as the
impetus for MAP, the Open Society Institute's program on Medicine as a
Profession, which seeks to reassess principles of professionalism in American
medicine and determine how they may best be used to advance individual and
public well-being.